Mouse
by KTEW
Summary: Mouse wasn't always the annoying... well, jerk he is now. His reasoning behind that is a girl. The same girl who saved his life. In more ways than one. OC-centric


**AN: So i finally got around to writing Mouse's backstory! It gets better as it goes on, I swear! Partially because this was written over the course of... 5 months?**

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><p>Okay, I'll admit it. I'm just like everyone describes me. An annoying moron who follows the least-liked person in the hideout around like a lost puppy.<p>

But I wasn't always like that.

Honestly, before the accident, I was the top of my class, one of the nicest guys in school. Maybe not the best looking, but I was still pretty popular. I was never the smartest, but most of the time I had off from helping with the family business went into studying.

So, honestly, everyone know me, but I didn't know anyone. I was too busy trying to be perfect to meet people. I didn't even know that Lace and Whistle – or whatever their real names are – lived so close. Whistle's village was only a couple of miles away, and Lace's mansion was in between the two.

Anyway, so D-Day, as I have the tendency to call it, came along. It was the afternoon after a big test at school and I was ready to relax, for once. So when some girl I didn't know asked if I wanted to go hang out with her, I said sure. And told my parents, of course. Can't be too careful.

She was about my age, maybe a little older, and had one of the most interesting hair styles I'd ever seen. She had pigtails and a high ponytail at  
>the same time.<p>

"So," I muttered as she led me closer to the tree line of the forest. "What's your name?"

"Tails," she said, smiling a little. She wasn't all that tall. I was just under five feet, and she was only about half an inch taller. But she was pretty. Her hair was a nice light brown, her eyes were emerald green, and her skin, though on the pale side, was pretty much flawless other than a few bumps and bruises.

Just as I was thinking that, she tripped over something I couldn't see and just managed to catch herself.

"Your name's 'Tails'?" I asked, helping her up.

"Thanks." She giggled a little and nodded. "Uh, yeah. It's a long story." Her voice was relatively high, but had a bit of a rasp to it.

I raised an eyebrow, but had the feeling she wasn't going to tell me. "I'm–"

She raised a hand to cut me off. "Don't tell me. I'll find out soon enough." Her eyes drifted to the ground. I couldn't read the emotion in them.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

She nodded. She looked back up and grinned. "Come on, let's climb."

We spent the next hour, at least, just climbing trees and laughing. It was fun. But she kept glancing back at the town like she expected something to happen.

"Hang on," she said quietly as I reached for another branch.

I straddled the branch next to hers, looking back at her. She'd stayed near the trunk the whole time, not quite like she was scared of heights, but more like she was scared of falling.

She gestured for me to sit next to her. I grabbed the branch above me and swung over, sliding over until I was only a few inches away from her.

She wasn't looking at me. She was still looking through the branches to my town. We'd swung through the trees until there was a bit of a distance between us and anyone else.

She took her hand out of her lap and placed it on mine. I wasn't sure if she meant to or not, but I felt a jolt, like static electricity.

I started to move it, but she took it again and set it back down on the branch, her fingers loosely grasping it.

"Do you… like your life?" she asked, looking at the town instead of me.

"Um… Yeah, I guess," I said, confused.

"Is there anything you wish you could change about it?" She still didn't look at me.

I shrugged. "I kinda wish I had friends. I'm good in school, but only because I study all the time. I never have the chance to meet anyone."

She nodded silently.

"Why do you ask?" I finally asked.

"You'll see," she said quietly.

As if on cue, I heard screaming. I looked over, startled, and saw a swarm of red-brown invading the green of the town. From that high up, both the soldiers attacking and the people attempting to flee looked barely larger than ants.

"W-wha-?" I stuttered, staring down at the scene, shocked.

"You can't do anything," Tails whispered, the rasp of her voice making it sound almost haunting.

I looked over to see her avert her eyes from both me and the scene below us. I tore my hand away from hers, horrified. I stood, grabbed the next branch, and swung down.

"Wait!"

I ignored her and grabbed the next branch, swinging down again and repeating the process, desperate to escape the sound of her stumbling and scrambling after me.

I reached the ground and took off sprinting, only to be nearly tackled by her small figure.

I ripped out of her grasp fairly easily, but didn't move forward when I saw her trip and collapse to the ground.

"P-please," she whispered, sitting, legs folded under her, slumped over, head hanging, hands clutching the grass. "Don't."

I glanced back at the town only to see it up in flames.

I took a shuddering breath and knelt down next to her. "What's wrong with you?" I asked, attempting to make my voice sound detached. Cold.

She shook her head. "I-I just…" She sobbed quietly.

I hesitated a moment, surprise taking over, before sitting all the way and gently placing a hand on her arm.

She looked up, her eyes tear-filled, several of the drops rolling down her cheeks. She straightened up a bit, loosely wrapped her arms around mine as I removed my hand, and gently set her head on my shoulder. We sat like that for what seemed like a long time, watching my home burn to the ground. I wiped away a tear, suddenly glad yet regretful that I'd been so detached from everyone else.

After what felt like half an eternity but was probably closer to an hour, she slowly lifted her head off of my now soaked-through shoulder and unwrapped her arms.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, staring at the ground.

I shook my head, finally looking at her instead of the wreckage in front of us. "It's not like it was your fault."

"But it was," she said quietly, wiping at another tear.

I stared at her, shocked. "How so?"

"I knew it was gonna happen," she whispered guiltily. "I tried to tell them, but… They never listen to me."

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"My, um," she started, "family, I guess." She chuckled half-heartedly, the sound dead. "I'm not like them, though. I can't fight, can't build, can't create anything. I'm useless." She pulled her legs up to her chest and stared down at her knees dejectedly. "They saved me and I can't do anything to repay them."

"You're not useless," I said, taken aback. "You literally saved my life."

"But I couldn't save anyone else." She looked over at me, the pain bare in her eyes. "I'm just one of at least a hundred kids that they've saved. One of the forty-something that stayed. My story's a little darker than some, but they don't treat me any differently because of it and I'm okay with that."

I cut off what she was going to say next. "What do you mean by that? The 'darker' thing?"

She shook her head vigorously, letting me know that she wasn't about to tell me. "I-it's not what you're thinking. But that's not my problem. My problem is that the two that saved me – the two I look up to most – think I'm incompetent. And I think they're right."

"Well, they're stupid," I said like it was obvious. To me, it was. "Sure, you might be a bit clumsy and half of the village could've lifted you over their heads, but you're nice. Insanely sweet; caring."

She smiled a bit. It looked broken, but like she was trying to convey that this was helping. "Thanks." She leaned over and hugged me. I tried to ignore the vague tingling sensation everywhere she touched.

"All better now?" I asked, smiling slightly.

She giggled quietly and let go. This time it sounded right. "Not 'all', but I'm getting there." A flash of realization crossed her face. "Oh! You need a name! Before you ask, everyone gets a name when they come with us. The person who finds them gives it to them."

I raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything.

"Well, you're really nice," she said quietly, seemingly talking to herself. "And kinda quiet, and fast… And cute…" I blushed a bit at that. "Mouse!"

I blinked, surprised. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. "O-okay…" I thought about it for a moment. "I like it."

She beamed. "Really?"

I nodded, smiling at her expression. "Yeah." I stood up, held my hand out, and pulled her up when she took it. "Well, we're going somewhere, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" she said brightly. "C'mon, follow me." Her grin had simmered down to a soft smile, which I was more than happy with.

"So tell me about this family of yours," I said, honestly curious.

She giggled. "Oh, spirits. Well, first there's Granyt…" She managed to talk for the whole trip, explaining the insane residents of the place she called home.

But I had a strange feeling that, wherever she took me, I was gonna like it there.

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><p><strong>AN: This is rather depressing for me, isn't it? Hm. So we have some mild Mails shipping... You know, I hated both of those two when I created them (mostly him), but now they're my favorites! Especially together!<strong>

**Love it? hate it? Tell me! Review!**


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